Breaking Out of the Shadow
by Villains' Bad Girl
Summary: Maggie Sattler has spent her whole life living in her sister Ellie's shadow. What happens when she, Ellie, and Alan are trapped on an island filled with dinosaurs? Will Maggie prove that she's more than just Ellie's little sister? Ellie/Alan/OC Jurassic Park AU
1. Maggie Sattler

_Hey-O! Welcome to my first Jurassic Park fic! I own nothing except Maggie._

* * *

I watched as Alan held the door shut, trying to keep the raptors out of the control room. Ellie was at Alan's feet trying to help him keep the door shut.

"Ellie, get back and boot up the door locks!" Alan said.

"You can't hold it by yourself!" she said staying where she was.

"Try to reach the gun!"

Ellie reached out her foot, trying to pull it by the strap, failing.

"I can't get it unless I move!"

"I got it!" I said picking up the gun.

As I stood, I noticed something moving right beside her. I turned her head to see a raptor standing behind the glass window, staring me right in the eye. How did I get mixed up in all this?

* * *

My name is Maggie Sattler. I'm sure you never heard of me. My older sister, Ellie is the more famous out of us Sattler sisters. I was always stuck in her shadow all of my life, always second best. She was better than me in every way. Looks, brains, you name it. Even my college professors said she was the better student.

Me? I'm just known as Ellie Sattler's little sister, the klutz who would bump into anything.

I guess my story begins a few days ago. I had just graduated college and had decided to stay with Ellie for a while. I had just driven up to the current digging site Ellie was at. There were some trailers parked around.

"Ellie!" I called out. "Sis, you here?"

The door to one of the trailers opened to reveal a young woman with blonde hair tied back in a braid. She smiled as she saw me.

"Maggie!" she said running toward me.

"Hey, El", I said as I hugged her.

"So the college graduate finally decided to join us?" Ellie said smiling.

"It's just temporary", I said. "I need someplace to stay till I earn enough money to get my own place. I don't want to be a burden."

"Nonsense, it's no trouble at all", she said. "Alan and I won't mind."

"Alan?"

"Yeah, Alan Grant", Ellie said. "You remember him from last Thanksgiving?"

I looked over her shoulder to see the man himself. Alan Grant, one of the most famous paleontologists I knew. I remembered him, alright. I remember literally bumping into him and getting pumpkin pie and whipped cream all over myself. Some first impression.

As I looked at Alan, I had come to remember how handsome I thought he was. There he stood in those jeans and those sunglasses and that hat. Too bad my sister got him first. Who was I kidding? I never would've had a chance with him even if he and Ellie weren't together. All he'd ever see me was just a klutz.

"Do you need help with your bags?" Ellie asked.

"No, I can manage", I said. "It's just two bags."

I reached into the back of my truck and pulled my stuff out of the flatbed. As I carried it, I saw Alan stepping aside holding the door open.

"Thanks", I mumbled looking away hoping he wouldn't see the blush creeping up on my face.

Unfortunately, that was distracting as I didn't look in front of me to see the front step of the trailer. I tripped over the step and fell forward dropping my bags.

"Nice to see you again, Maggie", Alan chuckled.

"Yeah…" I said. "You too."

Another great impression.


	2. An Interesting Morning

Alan yawned as he woke up early. They had a new dinosaur to dig up and he knew it was going to take up most of the day. He could hear water running from the bathroom in the trailer. It must've been Ellie. Maggie was probably still tired from her long drive out there and sleeping.

Alan walked into the living room area to see Maggie sleeping on the couch. He was surprised to see no one there. He turned around curiously as he heard singing from the bathroom.

_That old dog has chained you up, alright  
Give you everything you need to live inside a twisted cage  
Sleep beside an empty rage  
I had a dream I was your hero_

He walked to the door and knocked.

"Is that you, Ellie?" he heard. "Give me a moment. I'll be right out."

_Damn, I wish I was your lover  
I'd rock you 'til the daylight comes  
Made sure you are smiling and warm  
I am everything, tonight, I'll be your mother  
I'll do such things to ease your pain  
Free your mind, and you won't feel ashamed_

Alan heard a loud crash in the bathroom.

"Ow!" Maggie said. "Damn it!"

"Is everything alright?" Alan said finally speaking up.

"Alan?"

Maggie opened the door wearing nothing but a bath towel wrapped around her. Alan looked at her wondering what happened. He saw a bruise forming on her forehead.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Um, yeah I'm alright", Maggie said. "I just bumped my head on the showerhead."

Alan gently touched her head seeing how bad it was.

"It's not too bad", he said. "Put some ice on it. You'll be alright."

She shyly smiled as she looked at him. His hands felt so soft and gentle for someone who spent their time digging up dinosaur bones. Maggie had always had a crush on Alan ever since she first saw him at last year's Thanksgiving.

"You should get dressed", Alan said snapping her out of her gaze.

"Huh? Oh yeah, right."

Maggie stepped aside, letting Alan inside the bathroom.

* * *

I blushed as Alan shut the door behind him. That was a big surprise for me. I never thought Alan would see me like this. I thought it was Ellie. I wouldn't have minded if it was Ellie. But Alan…I was naked under that towel. What if it had slipped from my body?

I blushed furiously at that thought. I never had the perfect body. Everyone had laughed saying I wasn't beautiful. Ellie was the beautiful one, not me. She must've had a perfect body. Why else did Alan choose to date her?

"Maggie", Alan called. "Are you done with the towel yet?"

"In a minute!" I answered.

I dried off and dressed quickly to give Alan the towel. I looked around looking for my glasses. I had taken them off before my shower. Where were they? I looked on the coffee table. I looked in my bag.

"Maggie!" Alan called.

I hoped I hadn't lost my glasses. I didn't have the money to pay for new ones. Unlike my sister who only needed glasses to read, I needed mine more than her. I was near-sighted and without my glasses, I wouldn't be able to see.

"Maggie."

I turned around and gasped in surprise. There stood Alan shirtless, waiting for the towel. He had a nice body.

"Sorry", I mumbled looking away. "I was looking for my glasses, but I can't find them."

To my surprise, Alan held them in his hand.

"You left them on the sink", he answered.

I blushed as Alan slid them onto my face. He took the towel and walked back to the bathroom.


	3. Velociraptor

I sat in the shaded area as Alan, Ellie and a bunch of other people started digging up the new dinosaur bones they had discovered. There were other people across the way trying to get a make a computer out of the materials they had so they could study the bones a lot easier.

"So", I said as I tried to make a conversation. "How do you know when you locate a dinosaur? Do you dig around in random places until you find one?"

"I'd rather do that than use a computer like those people", Alan said motioning to the people down the hill.

"Alan hates computers", Ellie chuckled.

"You don't know what you're missing", I said smiling at him. "They make things a lot easier than they really are."

"I don't trust computers", Alan sighed.

I smiled and watched as he and the others dug. He was much different than I expected. I had expected someone more….Ellie's type. Usually Ellie liked intellectual men who were willing to try new things. Alan however was stuck in the past. He preferred to keep things the way they were. He hated change.

"Tell me about yourself, Maggie", Alan said. "Ellie hasn't spoken a lot about you."

"Ellie?" I said surprised.

"I couldn't, sis", she said. "It'd almost be like talking about you behind your back."

"What would you like to know about?" I asked Alan.

"You just graduated", he said. "What were you studying?"

"I'm a paleobotanist", I answered.

"Seems like both Sattler sisters want to be scientists", one of the men digging mumbled.

"And you think we're not good enough for that?" Ellie asked.

"You're too pretty", the digger said. "It's a waste enough we have Ellie getting dirty, we don't need another Ellie Sattler here."

"Hey, I chose this job cause I like plants", I said getting annoyed with this guy. "If you don't like it, just keep your mouth shut. And I'm not like Ellie. Don't compare me to her."

Ellie frowned as she looked at me. I knew she felt sorry for me. This was how it had always been. People comparing me to her just cause she was better than me at everything. I turned away and looked at Alan who was focused on the digging. It wasn't long before the bones they found began to take shape.

"What is it?" I asked as I walked around.

I gasped as I tripped on a rock and fell onto the bones themselves. Everyone pushed me away and yelled.

"Excuse me! Can you just back off? This is very fragile! Are you out of your mind?"

I frowned as I backed away from the digging. I stopped as I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't let them get you down", Ellie said. "They know you didn't do it on purpose."

"Yeah", I sighed. "I shouldn't even be here. I'd just mess things up some more."

"Dr. Grant!" the men at the computer called out. "Dr. Sattler! We're ready to try again!"

"I hate computers", Alan sighed as he got up.

"The feeling's mutual", Ellie smiled as she wrapped her neckerchief around his neck.

"What's going on?" I asked as I walked to the computer with them.

"They're shooting a radar into the ground so we can see the fossil more clearly", Alan explained.

I watched fascinated as the men shot the radar into the ground. The whole ground seemed to vibrate as the computer switched on.

"How long does this take?" Alan asked.

"It should be immediate return", the analyst said. "You shoot the radar into the ground, the bone bounces back..."

We all watched as the image of the bones appeared on the screen.

"This new program's incredible!" the analyst said. "A few more years of development and you don't have to dig anymore!"

"Where's the fun in that?" Alan asked.

I couldn't help but smile. He really did love his job digging up dinosaur bones.

"What kind of dinosaur is it?" I asked.

"Velociraptor?" Ellie asked.

"Yes", Alan answered. "Good shape, too. Five, six feet high. I'm guessing nine feet long. Look at the—"

He touched the screen, making the image go away and replaced with static.

"What did you do?" the analyst asked.

"He touched it", Ellie chuckled. "Dr. Grant is not machine compatible."

I giggled as well as Alan continued.

"Look at the half-moon shaped bone in the wrist. No wonder these guys learned to fly."

I turned as everyone listening started laughing. Alan frowned as he looked at them.

"Why are they laughing?" I asked. "Isn't it true?"

"They're all skeptics", Alan said. "Well maybe dinosaurs have more in common with present-day birds than reptiles. Look at the public bone. It's turned backwards, just like a bird. The vertebrae, full of hollows and air sacs, just like a bird. Even the word raptor means "bird of prey"."

"That doesn't look very scary."

Everyone turned to see a kid looking at the computer. It must've been one of the volunteer's kids.

"More like a six-foot turkey", he shrugged.

"Six-foot turkey, huh?" Alan said as he approached the boy. "Try to imagine yourself in the Cretaceous Period."

"Here we go", Ellie mumbled.

I looked at her confused and watched Alan as he circled the kid.

"You'd get your first look at the six-foot turkey as you move into a clearing. But raptor, he knew you were there a long time ago. He moves like a bird, lightly, bobbing his head, and you keep still, because you think maybe his visual acuity's based on movement, like a T-Rex, and he'll lose you if you don't move. But no, not velociraptor. You stare at him, and he just stares back. That's when the attack comes. Not from the front, no, from the side, from the other two raptors you didn't even know were there."

I listened very interested. Alan obviously knew what he was talking about and as he got into detail, he talked about it very intense. It was almost like he knew how raptors thought.

"Velociraptor's a pack hunter, you see, he uses coordinated attack patterns, and he's out in force today. And he slashes at you with this."

Alan pulled a dinosaur claw from his back pocket and held it in front of the kid whose eyes widened.

"A six-inch retractable claw, like a razor, on the middle toe", he said. "They don't bother to bite the jugular, like a lion, they just slash here, here. Or maybe across the belly, spilling your intestines. Point is, you're alive when they start to eat you. Whole thing took about four seconds. So, you know, try to show a little respect."

"Okay", the kid said scared.


	4. John Hammond

I walked next to Alan amazed by his knowledge. I smiled as I spoke up.

"That was incredible! I never knew you knew so much about how a raptor moves. Are you sure your ancestor isn't a raptor?"

"A lot of studying pays off", Alan said.

"You know, if you really wanted to scare the kid you could've just pulled a gun on him", Ellie chuckled.

"Yeah, I know, you know...kids", Alan mumbled. "You want to have one of those?"

"Really?" I asked surprised. "I didn't know you were thinking about having kids, El."

"I don't want that kid", she laughed. "Well yeah, a possibly one at some point could be a good thing. What's so wrong with kids?"

"They're noisy, they're messy, they're sticky, they're expensive", Alan listed.

"Cheap, cheap, cheap", Ellie rolled her eyes.

"They smell", he added.

"They do not smell!"

"Some of them smell. Babies smell."

I couldn't help but laugh. Alan was like most typical men. Saying anything to avoid kids. Our conversation was interrupted as the wind suddenly picked up. Sand was blowing everywhere as we all heard a loud whirring in the air. We looked up to see a helicopter landing.

"Get some canvasses and cover anything that's exposed!" Alan yelled to the other diggers.

The diggers covered the skeleton as the helicopter blades continued to turn. Alan ran to it to yell at the pilot. From the corner of my eye, I could see the door to the trailer opening.

"Cut the engine! Turn it off!"

"Alan!" I called. "Someone's in the trailer!"

I followed Alan into the trailer to see someone in front of the refrigerator.

"What the hell do you think you're doing in here?" Alan asked.

The person turned around popping open a bottle of champagne. The old man smiled as he wiped his hands free of the bubbling foam rising from the bottle. Somehow, he looked familiar. I looked at him wondering where I had seen him before.

"We were saving that!"

"For today, I guarantee it", the man said.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"John Hammond. And I am delighted to finally meet you in person Dr. Grant. And you are…?"

"Maggie Sattler", I answered smiling wide as I shook his hand. "I've read about you in the news before!"

"Very pleased to hear that", John said with a smile.

"Okay, who's the jerk?" Ellie asked as she barged in.

"Ellie…" I said worried she was going to offend John any worse than she just did.

"Uh, this is our paleobotanist, Dr. Ellie…" Alan introduced.

"Sattler", Ellie finished.

"Ellie, this is Mr. Hammond", Alan said. "John Hammond."

"Did I say jerk?" Ellie gasped feeling embarrassed.

"I apologize for my sister's words", I said.

"I'm sorry for the dramatic entrance, but I'm in a hurry", John said. "Will you have a wee bit of a drink now and then?"

Ellie and I followed him into the kitchen.

"Would you like some help?" I asked.

"I know my way around a kitchen", John said pulling few glasses out of the cupboard. "Well now, I'll get right to the point. I like you, Dr. Grant. Both you and Dr. Sattler. I can tell instantly with people, it's a gift. I own an island. Off the coast of Costa Rica. I leased it from the government and spent the last five years setting up a kind of biological preserve down there. Really spectacular, spared no expense. It makes the one I had in Kenya look like a petting zoo. No doubt that sooner or later our attractions will send kids right out of their minds."

"Sounds incredible", I said as I took a glass of champagne. "But what does this have to do with Alan and my sister?"

"We're going to open next year. Unless the lawyers kill me first. I don't care for lawyers. You?"

"We don't really know any", Ellie said.

"Well, I'm afraid I do", John said. "There's one, a particular pebble in my shoe. He represents my investors. He says they insist on outside opinions."

"What kind of opinions?" Alan asked.

"Not to put a fine point on it, your kind. Let's face it, in your particular field, you're the top minds. If I could just get you two to sign off on the park, you know, give a wee testimonial, I could get back on schedule. Love to have the opinion of a paleobotanist as well."

"No, I'm sorry, that wouldn't be possible", Alan said. "We've just discovered a new skeleton, and—"

"Alan, are you really going to say no to an all-expense paid trip to Costa Rica?" I asked. "Come on! You look like you could use a vacation."

"I could compensate you by fully funding your dig for a further three years", John added.

Ellie and Alan smiled having no choice but to agree to come.

"Where's the plane?" Ellie chuckled.

I saw Alan and Ellie hugged and felt left out. John noticed my hurt look and put his hand on my shoulder.

"You know, you're welcome to come along too", he said. "The more, the merrier."

"Thank you, sir."


	5. Ian Malcolm and Donald Gennaro

I looked uncertain as I watched Alan and Ellie get into the helicopter. Inside the helicopter were two other passengers. A man dressed in a suit and a man dressed in black. I was deathly afraid of heights, but all the seats were taken. All except for one seat right next to the window…right across from Alan.

"Are you coming?" John asked.

"Does anyone want to trade seats?" I asked.

"You can relax, dear child", John chuckled. "I can assure you, the flight will be completely safe."

I looked at the everyone who were staring at me, waiting for me to get in. I looked at Alan who was starting to look impatient. I knew this was the last thing he wanted to be doing. He just wanted to stay and dig up more bones. Here I was just keeping him from doing that even longer. I sighed as I got in and took my seat next to the window.

"Are you alright?" Ellie asked.

"Fine", I answered.

I closed my eyes as the helicopter began rising. I turned my gaze away from the window, not wanting to look. I knew we were flying overseas and that wasn't helping. I kept imagining what would happen if the helicopter crashed and we were stranded in the ocean.

"Dr. Sattlers, Dr. Grant, this is Ian Malcolm and Donald Gennaro", John said pointing at the man in black and the man in a suit. "Dr. Malcolm, Donald, this is Ellie Sattler, Maggie Sattler and Alan Grant."

"So you two dig up dinosaurs?" I heard.

I looked up to see Ian looking at Ellie, not taking his eyes off her. Alan was looking down at the raptor claw he kept with him.

"We try to", he answered.

Ian started laughing. I looked at him confused, same as Alan. Ellie however smiled. John shook his head.

"You'll have to get use to Dr. Malcolm", he said. "He suffers from a deplorable excess of personality, especially for a mathematician."

"Chaotician, actually", Ian corrected. "Chaotician. John doesn't subscribe to Chaos, particularly what it has to say about his little science project. Dr. Grant, Dr. Sattler, you've heard of Chaos Theory?"

"It rings a bell", I answered.

"No", Ellie answered.

"No?" Ian asked. "Non-linear equations? Strange attractions? Dr. Sattler, I refuse to believe that you are not familiar with the concept of attraction."

I looked at him in shock. Was he really flirting with Ellie? And right in front of Alan? I looked to see what his reaction to all this was. Alan just rolled his eyes as Ian gave Ellie a grin. Ellie smiled, enjoying Alan's jealousy.

"I bring scientists", John said shaking his head at Gennaro. "You bring a rock star."

I smiled. Ian did look like a rock star to me. John smiled as he pointed out the window.

We all looked out the window to see an island come into view. It looked so green and had a lot of mountains. It looked so beautiful.

"Bad wind shears!" John mentioned. "We have to drop pretty fast! Hold on, this can be a little thrilling!"

I gasped as the helicopter began to drop. I quickly looked around me searching for my seatbelt. It was so scary. Apparently everyone else started buckling their seatbelts too. Everyone except Alan, that is. He just held two parts of the seatbelt that didn't match. I couldn't help but smile at the bashful look he had. He didn't know what to do. The seatbelt wouldn't work unless he had the right parts.

I giggled as Alan resorted to tying the seatbelt around him.

"Better than nothing", I told him.

"Best I could do on short notice", he said.

We all looked around as the helicopter landed. John stepped outside where we saw two jeeps waiting for us. On the jeeps read a logo with a dinosaur skeleton and read "Jurassic Park".


	6. Welcome to Jurassic Park

John, Gennaro, Ian, Ellie, Alan, and I got into the jeeps that were waiting for us by the helicopter. The driver's drove the jeeps through the wilderness.

"So where's this park John told us about?" I asked. "I thought we'd see some amazing stuff around here."

"Trust me, little lady", the driver said. "This park will blow your mind."

I looked around the island and noticed something strange. Half of the plants didn't look natural. I watched as Ellie reached her hand out and grabbed a leaf. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was huge! It was about five times the size of a normal leaf.

"This shouldn't be here", Ellie said as she looked at the leaf.

"Let me see", I said taking the leaf.

I ran my fingers over the leaf, feeling the texture. I had never seen anything like it. We went over this kind of plant in school, but our instructor told us it was extinct. I was too busy focusing on the leaf, I didn't even notice the jeep had slowed to a stop.

"It's an ancient species of vermiform", I said handing the leaf back to Ellie.

I finally came back to my senses and felt the car shift. I looked over at Alan who suddenly was standing up in the back seat taking off his sunglasses looking at something with an astonished look on his face.

"Alan, what's wrong?" I asked.

He said nothing, but simply pointed. I looked to where he pointed. My jaw literally dropped.

"Oh, my god", I gasped.

Ellie continued rambling about the leaf not knowing what was going on.

"This species of vermiform was been extinct since the cretaceous period. I mean, look at this. It's huge."

Alan put his hand on Ellie's head, turning it to what we were staring at. She gasped and stood in the car to get a better look. Right in front of us was a dinosaur. It was a huge brachiosaur dinosaur…my favorite. It looked at least 30 feet tall. Alan, Ellie and I got out of the car looking at it in amazement.

"It's…it's a dinosaur", Alan said struggling to talk.

"It's amazing!" I said. "I never thought I would see something like this."

Ian and Gennaro stayed in their jeep watching in amazement.

"You did it", Ian said. "You crazy son of a bitch, you did it."

"Ellie, we can tear up the rule book on cold-bloodedness. It doesn't apply, they're totally wrong! This is a warm-blooded creature. They're totally wrong."

"This thing doesn't live in a swamp", Ellie added laughing.

I smiled as I watched the brachiosaur stand on its hind legs to get leaves from a higher branch on the tree it was eating from. It slammed back to the grand, making the earth shake. I giggled as I fell to the ground while everyone else managed to hold their ground.

"We can make a fortune with this place", Gennaro said observing.

"That thing's got a what, 25, 27-foot neck?" Alan asked as John approached us.

"The brachiosaur? He asked. "30."

"How fast is it?"

"Well, we clocked the T-Rex at 32 miles an hour.

"T-Rex?" I asked as I suddenly stiffened.

"T-Rex?" Ellie repeated. "You said you've got a T-Rex?"

"Say again?" Alan asked surprised.

"We have a T-Rex", John said proudly.

I stood up worried as Alan suddenly looked pale. He crouched over looking like he was going to be sick. Ellie ran his hand along his back.

"Put your head between your knees and breathe", she advised him.

I sat down next to Alan as he fell to the ground.

"You okay?" I asked.

"This…this is all just unbelievable", he breathed. "How is this possible? What is this place?"

"Dr. Grant, my dear Dr. Sattlers", John smiled. "Welcome to Jurassic Park."

The three of us gasped as we looked ahead of us to see herds of dinosaurs together.

"They're absolutely…" I said trying to find the right word to describe what I was seeing.

"They're moving in herds", Alan smiled observing. "They do move in herds!"

"We were right", Ellie said. "All our researched prove true."

"How did you do this?" Alan asked John.

"I'll show you", he said leading us back to the jeeps.


	7. Mr DNA

The jeeps brought us all to a large building. It was labeled Visitor's Center. John led us inside. The walls were decorated with dinosaur fossils. Dinosaur skeletons stood in the center of the building. I looked around amazed by such detail hardly listening to John as he talked about the park.

"…the most advanced amusement park in the world, combining all the latest technologies. I'm not talking rides, you know. Everybody has rides. We made a living biological attractions so astonishing they'll capture the imagination of the entire planet!"

I looked at Alan who had mixed emotions. On the one hand, he looked excited but on the other hand, he looked worried about something. Ellie noticed it too.

"What are you thinking?" she asked.

"We're out of a job", Alan answered.

"Don't you mean extinct?" Ian asked smartly.

"Oh, haha", I said sarcastically.

Ian was beginning to get on my nerves. I was tired of his jokes and him flirting with Ellie. It was obvious Ellie was with Alan. I hated guys who did stuff like that. John led us to a screening room of sorts. It looked like a little theater.

"Sit, sit", John told us as he walked up to the screen.

On the screen behind him, we saw footage of him walking up to us. He smiled at "looked" at John who started pulling cue cards from his pocket.

"_Hello, John",_ the footage said.

"Say hello", John told us.

"Hello", we all awkwardly said.

"How are you, John?" John asked talking to the footage.

"_Fine, I guess! But how did I get here?"_ the footage asked.

"Here, let me show you. First I'll need a drop of blood. Your blood."

John on the footage extended his finger. John held a needle and pretended to prick the footage's finger.

"_Ouch! John that hurt!"_

"Relax, John. It's all part of the miracle of cloning!"

I heard John, Ian and Ellie beginning to whisper to each other not paying attention to the film. I leaned in trying to hear what they were saying.

"Cloning from what?" Alan asked. "Loy extraction has never recreated an intact DNA strand!"

"Not without massive sequence gaps", Ian said.

"Paleo-DNA?" Ellie asked. "From what source? Where do you get 100 million year old dinosaur blood?"

"Shh!" Gennaro said shutting them up.

We watched as a cartoon character appears on the screen. "John" smiled as he saw the character.

"_Mr. DNA! Where did you come from?"_

"_From your blood!" Mr. DNA answered. "Just one drop of your blood contains billions of strands of DNA, the building blocks of life!"_

We all couldn't help but smile as we watched the cartoon explain the physics of how this park came to be.

"_A DNA strand like me is a blueprint for building a living thing! And sometimes animals that went extinct millions of years ago, like dinosaurs, left their blueprints behind for us to find! We just had to know where to look! A hundred million years ago, there were mosquitoes, just like today. And, just like today, they fed on the blood of animals. Even dinosaurs!"_

I looked at Alan who had the expression of an excited child. I knew dinosaurs were his life and this was just the kind of thing that would keep his attention.

"_Sometimes, after biting a dinosaur, the mosquito would land on a branch of a tree, and get stuck in the sap. After a long time, the tree sap would get hard and become fossilized, just like a dinosaur bone, preserving the mosquito inside."_

We all watched footage of scientists working in a laboratory. One was drilling into the hardened amber to reach the mosquito inside.

"_This fossilized tree sap, which we call amber, waited millions of years, with the mosquito inside, until Jurassic Park's scientists came along! Using sophisticated techniques, they extract the preserved blood from the mosquito, and BINGO! Dino DNA!"_

Alan watched amazed making me smile. I turned my attention back to the

"_A full DNA strand contains three billion genetic codes! If we looked at screens like these once a second for eight hours a day, it'd take two years to look at the entire strand! It's that long. And since it's so old, it's full of holes! That's where our geneticists take over! Thinking Machine supercomputers and gene sequencers break down the strand in minutes and Virtual Reality displays show our geneticists the gaps in the DNA sequence! Since most animal DNA is 90% identical, we use the complete DNA of a frog to fill in the holes and complete the code. Now we can make a baby dinosaur."_

We gasped as John pressed a button, making safety bar come down across our laps. The whole room began moving. The screen was gone and now we saw scientists working in the labs we saw. We leaned over the seats trying to see as we saw scientists carrying dinosaur eggs.

"Wait a minute! How do you interrupt the cellular mitosis?" Alan asked.

"Can't we see the unfertilized eggs?" Ellie asked.

"Shortly, shortly", John said.

"Can't you stop this?" Alan asked pulling the safety bar.

"Sorry, it's kind of a ride."

Alan, me, Ellie and Ian looked at each other. We all had the same idea in mind as we grabbed the safety bar and pushed them off. John pressed a button bringing the ride to a stop following us as we went to the exit.

"Hey, you can't do that!" Gennaro yelled. "Can they do that?"


	8. Egg Hatching

We gathered in the laboratory looking at all the technology being used to bring the park to life. One scientist looked at us and smiled.

"Good day, Henry", John greeted.

"Good day, sir."

I watched as Alan's attention was pulled toward what looked like a dinosaur nest. Ellie, Ian, John and I followed as we watched some kind of robotic arm turning the eggs to get the same amount of heat throughout the egg. Ellie gasped as she looked at one of the eggs. It was moving!

"Oh, perfect timing", Henry said. "I hoped they'd hatch before I had to go to the boat."

"Henry, why didn't you tell me?" John said excited as he put on a pair of gloves. "I insist on being here when they're born."

We all watched in amazement as we watched the egg move. Soon enough it began to crack with the baby dinosaur trying to break out. John gently coaxed the animal inside to push its way through the hard shell. It squeaked as it took its first breaths of air.

"I've never seen anything like this", I said with a smile.

"They imprint on the first creature they come in contact with", John explained as he picked the egg shells off the yolk-covered dinosaur. "Helps them to trust me. I've been present for the birth of every little creature on this island."

"All of them?" I asked. "But were there any that you may have missed while you were picking us up?"

"No, I schedule my trips around the eggs", he said.

"Well, surely not the ones that have bred in the wild", Ian shrugged.

"Actually they can't breed in the wild", Henry said. "Population control is one of our security precautions. There's no unauthorized breeding in Jurassic Park."

"How do you know they can't breed?" Ian asked.

"Because all the dinosaurs are female. We've engineered them that way."

"Engineered?" I asked. "How do you engineer a living organism?"

Everyone seemed to ignore my question as the baby dinosaur was now free of its shell. It squealed as it moved about.

"Again, how do you know they're all female?" Ian asked pushing his question. "Does someone go out into the park and pull up the dinosaurs' skirts?"

"Real funny, Ian", I rolled my eyes at the joke only a man would ask.

"We control their chromosomes", Henry answered. "It's really not that difficult. All vertebrate embryos are inherently female anyway. They require an extra hormone given at the right developmental stage to make them male. We simply deny them that."

"Deny them that?" Ellie and I asked.

Alan looked up very interested in this conversation as well. John however listened without a care in the world as he cleaned the yolk from the baby dinosaur.

"John, the kind of control you're attempting is not possible", Ian said. "If there's one thing the history of evolution has taught us, it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expands to new territories and crashes though barriers painfully and maybe even dangerously, but uh, there it is."

"There it is", John said not paying any heed to his words.

"I think I understand", I said. "What you're saying is living organisms cannot be controlled like this with computers and will eventually take control of their own lives?"

"So, you're implying that a group composed entirely of female animals will breed?" Henry asked.

"No, I'm simply saying that life, uh, finds a way."

Everyone ignored Ian's theory as they turned their attention back to the dinosaur. I watched as Alan picked it up and looked at it more closely. I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was something about that dinosaur that gave me the heebie-jeebies. It's squealing was getting more louder and vicious sounding.

"What species is this?" Alan asked.

"It's a velociraptor", Henry answered.

"You bred raptors?"

"Is that bad?" I asked.

I remembered the lecture Alan gave on raptors. They sounded like they could be extremely dangerous if they ran in the wild in the park.


End file.
